“Inside the NBA” is officially moving to ESPN and will air on the network at the start of the 2025-26 season. After airing on TNT for nearly 36 years, basketball fans have speculated what changes, if any, are going to be made to the popular show. On Monday, new reporting revealed new details for ESPN's plans for the show.
First and foremost, ESPN plans for “Inside the NBA” to maintain its postgame segment, according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. That has to be music to the ears of basketball fans, as the postgame portion of the show is viewed as the best part by many.
“There will be an extensive post-game show, say sources. ESPN's goal is to let the post-game segment run as long as it does now on TNT.”
Furthermore, “Inside the NBA” will reportedly lead the way for pregame and halftime shows for games. It's unclear what that means for ESPN's “NBA Countdown,” which typically airs for those portions of the games. However, it appears “Countdown” is going to play second-fiddle to “Inside the NBA.”
Article Continues Below“Inside the NBA will lead ESPN’s pregame and halftime programming. The show will air live during ABC/ESPN’s biggest events, including the NBA Finals, Conference Finals, and NBA Playoffs. They’ll also be featured on opening week, Christmas Day, all ABC Games after January 1, and the final week of the season.
“ESPN's own ‘NBA Countdown' will survive, but it will be strictly second-string. Simmons did say that ESPN might ‘f*** the show up' by forcing ‘Inside the NBA' to do the ‘short, terrible' pregame/halftime segments that are a staple of ‘Countdown.'”
Lastly, the cast and crew are said to stay together. We can expect to see Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley. All of the offscreen employees are expected to remain with the program as well, and “Inside the NBA” is still going to be filmed in its Atlanta studio.
“The cast is expected to stay together… All four [hosts] will remain TNT employees, but they're all expected to report for duty when the show is licensed to ESPN. The show will continue to be produced in the same Atlanta studio with the same behind-the-scenes crew. The only difference is that the set will bear ESPN branding rather than the TNT logo.”